


Piano

by puffythepig



Series: My Muppets Fics [8]
Category: The Muppets (TV 2015), The Muppets - All Media Types
Genre: Animals, Band, Birthday, Birthday Party, Blunt, Bullying, Clowns, Cute Kids, Dogs, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Juggling, Lots of OCs - Freeform, Mild Language, Muppets (Muppets), Piano, Puppies, friend's ocs - Freeform, puppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26174149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puffythepig/pseuds/puffythepig
Summary: Rowlf's nine-year-old niece Ronnie comes to stay for a while. All she wants to do is be like her uncle when she grows up, and that includes bar-tending and playing piano! When her tenth birthday party comes up, she knows she wants to throw a party and play piano for her school mates - but none of them come.Uncle Rowlf and her best friend Robin due their best to help cheer her up!
Relationships: Dr. Teeth/Marisol, Dr. Teeth/OC, I think that's the only romantic ship i included
Series: My Muppets Fics [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1837657
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	Piano

**Author's Note:**

> ok so there is a lot of OCs in this! Here's a ref with their relationships to help! 
> 
> -Ronnie: Rowlf's maternal niece! She is nine at the beginning of the fic and ten at the end. Rowlf's sister is named Rhonda and she has a teen daughter named Debbie as well!
> 
> -Radium: Beaker's niece! Her bunny she carries around is a plush Beaker bought for her. She is five years old and meeps like Beaker!
> 
> -Gimzo: Gonzo's adoptive kid? Kinda? Basically he found this alien kid and she follows him around and they treat each other like family. 202 in alien years, ten in Muppet years. Supposed to look like a mix between Nigel (Muppets Tonight, the little yellow sound guy?), the little trash heap followers from Fraggle Rock, and a Fraggle. More on her soon!
> 
> -Marisol: She is my friend Mel's OC! (@gollygeemel on Twitter/Tumblr, @Beelzy66 on YouTube!) In Mel's own words: "She started out as an intern on the Up Late with Miss Piggy show before getting hired on as a writer. A lowkey introvert, she's good friends with Fozzie (they have the same sense of humor) and obsessed with good luck charms"! Mel has also mentioned that Marisol has a crush on Dr. Teeth and I thought it would be cute to ship tease these two a little in the fic! Hope that's okay! 
> 
> I think that's it but as for other notes:   
> Robin is supposed to be eight in this! Him and Ronnie are super close because they both have uncles who work for the Muppets and they don't know a lot of other kids in that situation. Ronnie is a bit hyperactive and doesn't fit in at school while I've always read Robin as kind of shy and very empathetic, which I know could make it hard for him to make friends so they stick together! When they get older Ronnie has a crush on him but obviously they are young kids here!

Piano

The doorbell rang throughout Rowlf’s apartment, waking him from his room and causing a few barks to raise from his throat as he made his way to the front door. A glance to his watch told him it was One P.M. The dog yawned and creaked the door open, glancing out to see his sister and her two daughters staring at him.

“Come in.” Rowlf unlocked the door and led them into the living room, his younger niece immediately making her way into the kitchen, announcing she was going to grab a cup of juice. Once the Nine-year-old was out of earshot, Rowlf glanced over at his teenage niece and sister. “So, what’s with the unexpected visit?” He took notice of the sparkly sport bags both were carrying.

His sister, Rhonda, sat on the floral couch in the middle of the room, her paws clasped together. “Well, you know my good friend, Suzan?”

“I know Suzie,” Rowlf thought of the Dalmatian muppet, “What about her?”

“She fell down her stairs last night, and the doctors have her on bed rest for at least a week, so I’m going to stay with her. I was hoping you could watch Ronnie while I’m with her.”

Nodding, Rowlf glanced at his teenage niece. “And Debbie?”

The mentioned pup cleared her voice. “I’m gonna be staying with Mom and Suzie. Mom will spend most of the time lookin’ after Suzie, and I’m in charge of keeping track of her plants.”

“Interesting. Well, don’t be peeing in her plants, Debbie.”

Suppressing a laugh, the girl glanced at her paws and smiled instead as her mother scoffed.

“This is serious, Rowlf.”

“Sorry Sis,” he raised his own paws in defense, “Ronnie is free to stay. I’ll set up the back room for her tonight. She’s litter-trained, isn’t she?”

“She’s Nine.” Rhonda said with a smile, standing and handing one of the sparkly bags to Rowlf as her daughter copied the motion.

“I’m not a father, I don’t know the ages these things happen.” he laughed lightly and hugged his sister and niece before leading them back to the door. After a quick thank you, the dog duo left, and a crash sounded in the kitchen.

Hurrying to the kitchen as if he were on the scent of something, Rowlf stared at his Nine-year-old niece as she sat, looking dumbfounded by the knocked over trashcan.

Rolling his eyes and lifting up the pup, he started to carry her and her bags to the back room. “You wanna know a secret? Dogs don’t put their good trash in the garbage, they put it in the fridge. Hungry?”

Squirming to the ground, the brown pup nodded. “I’m starving, Uncle Rowlf! Mom said you could buy me lunch.”

Laughing, he ruffled the poof of hair atop her head. “Sure, I can. Just help me straighten this room up a little first.”

Nodding and running around the room and throwing things wherever her uncle told her, the duo soon finished cleaning the guest room and hopped into Rowlf’s truck. Stopping at a family-run café, the two gobbled down their burgers, fries, and shakes before slumbering back to the truck. Knowing he would need groceries, Rowlf turned into the nearest Super Store and watched in amusement as the pup beside him started clinging to the door in excitement.

After picking up a few pairs of shoes for the two to chew on at home, Rowlf’s mind wondered to his job. There was no way he had enough cash to pay a babysitter for an entire week, and he was the manager at his pub and couldn’t risk closing it randomly. Clearing his throat, he watched the pup glance up at him.

“What is it, Uncle Rowlf?”

“I was just thinking. You might have to come to work with me.”

Her tail-wagging slowed as she thought over the info. “You work at a bar, right?”

“Sure do.”

Her tail started to wag wildly again. “Can I try mixing drinks? Please?”

Snorting, Rowlf started the push the cart towards the juice aisle. “Sure, but you’ll mix the non-alcoholic drinks, yeah?”

The pup nodded. “Can I use a strainer and a shaker like you do?”

After thinking for a minute, Rowlf agreed and popped some different gallons of juice into the cart. “I got a few extra ones at the bar recently, they’re yours.”

Letting out a triumphant ‘woo,’ Ronnie hopped off the end of the cart and skipped beside her uncle instead. “Do you pack lunches for work?”

“Depends. Sometimes I do, sometimes we just order food.”

Her skipping stopped and she stared up at her uncle with pleading eyes. “Do you think we could order pizza today?”

Chuckling, Rowlf agreed once again. “Say, some of my friends from the Muppets Studio were coming to the bar tonight for Trivia Night, I could call some strings and see if any of them could come and play with you.”

Humming loudly, the girl pulled one of her pairs of chewing shoes out of the cart and played with the strings. “Are there any other dogs I could play with? Mom says the reason I don’t have friends at school is just because I’m still a puppy and have too much energy for the other kids to handle.”

“I don’t think any of them are puppies, but I’ll make sure they play with you. Promise.”

Solemnly giving a nod and throwing the shoes back in the cart, Ronnie hopped back onto the end of the cart, this time standing with her back to her uncle so she could look at every person they passed in the face until they finally left the store and headed home.

After Rowlf made a few quiet phone calls, the two sat on the couch and Ronnie pulled her DS out of her pocket and proceeded to give Rowlf a detailed tour of her Harvest Moon farm that took several hours, and by the time they finished, a glance at the clock sent the two flying out the door to the bar.

“Uncle Rowlf, are any of your friends bringing their kids?”

“Just Kermit this time,” The dog said, pulling into his parking space. “he’s bringing his nephew Robin.”

The pup whined. “Just a frog? Are you sure he’ll wanna play with me?”

“I’m sure he will, he’s a good kid. Now, you got your juice?”

A wide smile spread onto the girl’s face as she nodded and followed her uncle into the building. Within a few minutes of being open, guests started to pour into the establishment and Ronnie scanned the crowd eagerly until Kermit and Robin entered the establishment. Taking a deep breath, Ronnie elbowed her uncle. “Can you come and introduce me to Kermit’s nephew?”

The bartender shrugged and waved his coworker over, Robin trailing behind and looking around the bar curiously before he spotted the pup staring at him with wide eyes.

“Ronnie, this is Kermit’s nephew, Robin. Robin, this is my niece, Ronnie.” Rowlf said, motioning between the two while Kermit looked down at his nephew, who held tightly to his uncle’s hand.

Throwing her paw out for the smaller child to shake, Ronnie smiled down at the frog. “Heya Robin,” she could feel her tail starting to wag as he shook her hand, “do you wanna play tag?”

“Ah, no running in the bar, Ronnie. There’s too much glass around. You two can go find something safer to play with, okay? Your mom would kill me if you got hurt.” Rowlf said matter-of-factly, and the pup held a sour pout, but nodded and started walking, Robin following her closely.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ronnie. You’re bigger than I thought you would be.” Robin said simply as they ventured into the small crowd of muppets, scanning the room for something to do.

“You’re smaller than I thought you would be. What do you like to do for fun? Do you wanna play hide and seek?”

The frog hummed. “I wish we could, but last time I played hide and seek in here I got in trouble. I hid under a table and when one of the waiters brought drinks to the table I accidentally scared ‘em. It really upset Uncle Kermit.”

“I don’t wanna get in trouble. My mom says that’s my middle name, even though it isn’t,” Ronnie mumbled, glancing around and settling her eyes on the dart board in the room. “Oooh, Robin, we should throw some darts!”

“That sounds fun! You don’t think that will get in trouble, do you?”

Shaking her head, the pup dragged the frog over to the board and jumped up to grab the darts. Ronnie threw her darts first, with each of them bouncing off the board and to the floor pitifully. Robin positioned himself to throw his, but quickly found he was too short to get anywhere close to the board.

“I got an idea! Get on my shoulders, Robin! Then you can reach!” The pup exclaimed, leaning down so the amphibian could climb aboard her back right away. Just as she started to stand, Kermit realized the situation and grabbed the darts from Robin’s hands.

Gasping, Robin cowered behind Ronnie’s ears as Kermit started to lecture his nephew. “Do you know how dangerous throwing darts is, Robin? What if you or Ronnie got hurt? What would Rowlf and I tell your parents?”

Ronnie thought for a minute. “I think you’d tell ‘em sorry, right?”

Kermit stared blankly at the pup for a minute before shaking his head. “Yes, but that isn’t the point. You two need to find something safe to play in here.”

“Awh, but Uncle Kermit… we can’t run around, play hide and seek, or even throw darts in here.” The mini frog huffed and rested his head on top of Ronnie’s hair. “What can we do for fun here?”

Crossing his arms and glancing around, Kermit held up a hand to silently tell the children to wait before walking away. When he returned, he held two menus and a pack of crayons, ushering the kids to a booth. “Here. Rowlf said you two can color over some of these. Don’t run off in here again.” With that, the frog sighed and left the two alone.

“Sorry I got you in trouble, Robin.” Ronnie helped Robin down from her shoulders and into the booth beside her. “Didn’t mean to.”

Shrugging, Robin looked at the menu in front of them. “It’s okay. He’s been upset all day.”

“Do you know why?”

“My aunt miss Piggy said something mean to him the other day. I don’t know what it means, but it’s been really bothering him.”

Setting down the green crayon she had been scribbling with, Ronnie’s eyes went wide suddenly. “Do you think she called him a bad word?”

“I think so. She called him a,” Robin glanced around to make sure no one was watching and leaned closer to the pup to whisper, “she called him a boob.”

“Isn’t that just what moms use to feed their babies?”

“That’s what I thought, but Uncle Kermit said before that some words have more than one meaning. I think it’s like that.”

Ronnie nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense to me. It must mean somethin’ really mean if he’s still upset about it.”

Robin doodled something red in the corner of his menu. “Yeah. I wish I knew what it meant. Maybe then I could cheer Uncle Kermit up.”

“Let’s go ask him or Uncle Rowlf.”

“I dunno, Ronnie. If it is a bad word, I don’t want him to be mad that I said it.”

“Hmm… then we’ll write it and ask him.” Ronnie finished her scribble of Kermit and wrote the word beside him, underlining it for emphasis.

Bounding out of her seat before Robin could agree to the idea, Ronnie raced towards the other green frog in the room, stopping at his feet and staring up at him. After Robin caught up to her, she lifted her menu up to the amphibian and pointed at the word. “What does this word mean, Mr. Kermit? Robin says he heard Miss Piggy say it to you.”

Kermit blankly observed the paper for a minute before glancing over to Rowlf, who covered his mouth and turned around, trying to hide his low laughter.

Mumbling and stepping forward, Robin kept his eyes to the floor. “Is that why you’ve been upset today, Uncle Kermit?”

After clearing his throat, Kermit leaned down to be at eyelevel with his nephew and pulled him into a hug. Once he separated, he tried his best to hide his smile. “I’m sorry I’ve been a bit upset today, Robin. Work was just tiring today. I wasn’t upset because Miss Piggy called me a boob earlier.”

The pup looked over to her own uncle. “Is boob a bad word? Can I call people a boob?”

Rowlf thought for a minute and nodded. “Sure, just don’t call your mom or sister one. I’ll never hear the end of it.”

The kids hurried back to their booth to continue their doodles and eat the pizza that arrived until Rowlf stretched his paws and sat in front of his piano, and the children came bouncing. After watching for a few songs, Ronnie’s tail started wagging hard enough for her to fly away with a thought that popped into her head. “Can you teach me piano, Uncle Rowlf?”

Shrugging, the adult dog agreed.

Soon the next day arrived, and the two hurried to the bar an hour before opening time at the bar to practice. After overcoming her initial frustration and starting to tap out ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, Ronnie became obsessed and practiced poking the keys the rest of the evening until she made an inch of progress, Robin sitting beside her the entire time swinging his legs. 

The week passed quickly, with Rowlf finding out over the phone that Suzie’s condition hadn’t improved, and his niece would be staying with him for longer. One week became two and then three and within the blink of an eye, Ronnie’s birthday arrived.

After sending out her invitations through the mail to her school mates and planning what she proudly called a ‘Piano Party’ for her birthday, the soon-to-be ten-year-old finally sat down in her uncle’s saloon to wait for her guests to arrive. When not one school mate arrived and the only other child attending was a comforting Robin, Ronnie collapsed into whimpers and tears and hurried to hide behind the bar.

Robin poked his head around the corner and sat next to his friend, pouting up at her. “Ronnie, I’m here for you party.”

She sniffled and pulled her knees to her chest. “I know Robin… but no one from school came. No one! I don’t think they like me at all.” The small frog considered opening his mouth to protest but the dog opened hers first. “You’re my friend Robin, but I think I wanna be alone right now.”

“But it’s your birthday, Ronnie! You should be happy.”

Shrugging, the dog scooted further under the bar so she could hide her face. “Well, I’m not happy. I wanna be alone.”

Nodding and standing up, Robin listened to his friend’s request and trudged his way out from behind the bar and over to where Rowlf was setting up a table. “Mr. Rowlf?”

Rowlf glanced down at Kermit’s eight-year-old nephew. “Yeah, what is it Robin?”

“I don’t think Ronnie’s friends are coming, and it’s making her really upset. I don’t know what to do.”

The adult dog let his shoulders sag as he looked over to where Kermit was straightening up the gift table. “I see. Well, I have an idea. But for now, how about you and Ronnie go sit and eat some of the pizza?”

Robin brightened up at the mention of pizza and ran back over to where Ronnie was hiding. Upon mentioning the food, the pup followed her friend to a table to sulk and munch on greasy pizza.

Within a few minutes, Fozzie, Rizzo, and Pepe made their way into the building, all carrying balloons. Unable to fight the way her ears perked up, Ronnie slid herself out of her booth as the trio approached her. One by one, they stopped and each handed her a balloon. She recognized them as the balloons they sold at the Dollar General but felt her tail wagging still.

The pup stared up at her three shiny pink balloons as Pepe let out a laugh. “You want more balloons?” Ronnie nodded as the prawn pulled a bag out and handed it to Rizzo. “You heard the puppy, ok?”

Rizzo scoffed and set the bag down, pulling one balloon out at a time and blowing it up with puffed cheeks. Fozzie joined his side as Pepe ushered the pup and her frog friend over to the dart board. “So I heard you two like darts, but aren’t allowed to use the pointy darts, yeah? I got these for you to use instead.” Pepe held up the bag he was carrying and pulled out a plastic baggy of sticky-hands. “Have at it. Just don’t smack me. When Gonzo gets here he is free game, okay?”

Wagging her tail wildly, Ronnie grabbed at the baggy and showed Robin before ripping it open, letting her balloons float to the ceiling as the sound of the front doors opening rang through the room again. After tossing the sticky-hands to the dart board with Robin for a few long minutes, Ronnie turned around and watched as Bunsen and Beaker entered the building pushing a rolling table with a volcano on it, a tiny muppet that resembled Beaker following them.

Racing over to the dynamic duo and the small child, Ronnie nearly knocked the paper Mache creation onto the ground but stopped herself. Robin skidded to a halt behind the puppy, looking over at the child behind Beaker, who was only a few inches taller than him.

Bunsen glanced over and motioned the kid forward. “Oh, have you met Beaker’s niece, miss Ronnie? Her name is Radium.”

The five-year-old held up the little plush rabbit in her arms. “Meep mee,” she said shyly, pretending to make the rabbit hop. Beaker nodded knowingly to whatever she said and ruffled the poofy red ponytail coming out of her head. He leaned down and gave her a few encouraging meeps, the kid handing him the bunny plush and then reaching out to hold Ronnie’s hand.

Bunsen let out a small chuckle. “She says she wants to play with you and Robin. Make sure you’re careful with her, though.” The child huffed at that and the yellow muppet only laughed again. “Anyways, you’re probably wondering what all of this is, aren’t you? Well, my lab and life partner Beaker will explain!”

The skinny muppet nodded. “Meep mee meep moh,” he motioned to the volcano and what appeared to be a pink liquid beside of it, “mohp mohhhh.”

“Exactly, Beakie!”

Ronnie slowly stopped panting in confusion before Robin leaned up to whisper something to her. “I think he said that the pink stuff is vinegar. My teacher said if you put vinegar in a volcano, it will explode.”

Beside the older kids, Radium made an explosion motion with her hands.

“Thank you for the explosion kit, Mr. Bunsen and Mr. Beaker! I’ll be careful with it!” Ronnie cheered, wheeling it over to her birthday booth as a hand touched her shoulder. She turned around expecting to see her uncle, but instead she came face to face with Gonzo, who had a face full of clown makeup plastered on his face. After letting out a scream, the pup took a few breaths and calmed herself down.

“Oh, sorry kid. I didn’t know you were scared of clowns or I would have gone with the Disney princess look.” He said calmly and she shook her head.

“I’m not scared of clowns! Clowns are fun. I just didn’t know you were behind me.” She answered, letting herself pant happily again as she looked around at the party that grew in number.

Behind Gonzo, an orange and blue muppet that resembled an elephant with no ears jumped out, their face also covered in clown makeup. “Boo!”

“Gimzo, clowns do _not_ say boo.”

The smaller alien muppet shook her head. “On my planet they do.” The 10-year-old-in-appearance stated, crossing her arms before smiling up at Ronnie. “I’m Gimzo! I’m from a planet that is pronounced...” Gonzo whispered to her, “oh, it’s pronounced Cowabunga in English.”

“Hey Gimzo,” Ronnie reached out and shook the other muppet’s hand. “I’m Ronnie, and I’m from Earth.”

Gimzo lifted her trunk and sniffed at Ronnie for a minute before nodding. “I can tell. Do you wanna see me do a trick?”

“Well, I’m going to go see Rizzo and Pepe. You be good, Gimzo, and remember that eating plastic cups is not a trick!”

Blowing a raspberry at her adopted father figure, Gimzo pulled three little balls out of the pockets of her clown pants and started to balance on her Fraggle-like tail before beginning to juggle. After a minute of juggling, the alien muppet turned and watched as the Electric Mayhem entered the building. Ronnie sucked in an excited gasp just as Gimzo started to throw her juggling balls at the band as hard as she could. After Animal ate two of them, Gimzo ran off to tell Gonzo while Robin, Radium, and Ronnie hurried over to the band.

“I didn’t know you guys were coming,” Robin said happily, and Janice spoke up first.

“We know we needed to totally come. Rowlf told us what was going on.”

The poofy-haired puppy panted and started sniffing around the band, looking curiously at the instruments they had brought with them.

“Why is the cat smelling us so much? She isn’t sick, is she?” Zoot said hazily, and Floyd laughed.

“Didn’t I tell you, Zoot? Sickness is a made-up concept and germs aren’t real.”

Dr. Teeth smiled down at the pup and her friends. “We’re here to play some groovy birthday tunes. Does that sound good?”

Ronnie cheered at the idea. “Yeah! Is there any chance I can see your instruments closer?”

Janice replied. “Totally. You could try that out, too. For surely.”

Dr. Teeth nodded in agreeance. “Now, I think we’re gonna wait until my favorite Mary is here to play. Until then, do you wanna come and help us set up?”

Howling in happiness, Ronnie trotted after the group. “Whaddya mean by your favorite Mary?”

“Oh, that’s his new girl,” Zoot said calmly, pushing his sunglasses further up onto his face.

Dr. Teeth let out a soft laugh as they approached the stage. “Sort of. I just asked her out the other day. Not sure if she’s calling it dating yet or not.”

Floyd shook his head. “She is. I heard her whispering about it the other day when I stopped by the writer’s room to steal some of the donuts Rizzo brought in. Don’t try donuts if Rizzo brings them in, by the way. I don’t know what he put in them, but they didn’t taste right and didn’t leave me feeling anything special. Just congested.”

Robin piped in, smiling up at the band. “My uncle Kermit said it isn’t safe to eat the food Rizzo or Pepe are bringing in right now because they’re havin’ a prank war. I’m not sure what Rizzo put in his donuts, but my uncle Kermit said it was probably laxatives, whatever those are.”

“That explains why they tasted funny.” The band laughed at Floyd’s misery as they unpacked their instruments on the stage, with the kids helping the best that they could.

When Marisol arrived and hurried onto the stage carrying a bag draped over her shoulder, the children were ushered off the stage for a while and the lights in the room were centered primarily on the band. After banging out the Weird Al song ‘Happy Birthday,’ ‘Birthday’ by the Beatles, and a few more generic sounding birthday tunes, Ronnie was pulled back onto the stage.

After taking a short turn trying her best to play each instrument, the cake was cut and the gifts that were brought were distributed, with Gonzo giving her the rubber nose off his clown costume, Rizzo giving her a set of donuts that she decided not to eat, Pepe giving her a mug with his face on it, Fozzie giving her some dog treats, the band giving her a set of drumsticks and guitar picks, Kermit and Robin giving her a giant plush octopus, and lastly Rowlf pulling a portable keyboard out of the backroom with a bow on it.

The puppy jumped into her uncle’s arms, causing him to have to put the keyboard down for a minute to hold her up. “I’m glad you like it. I thought you would want one to take back home so you can show your mom what you’ve learned.”

Wagging her tail and squirming to the ground, the pup raced over to the band and stared up at them expectantly.

“Alright, now how about you come play a few tunes with us? I’ve heard you’ve been practicing the piano. Bring your new keyboard up here.” Dr. Teeth said with a wide, glowing smile, and with her uncle’s help the dog did as she was told.

Right away, Marisol stopped the child before she could begin tapping her keys. “One more thing! Do you notice something about the whole band today?”

Blinking and scanning over the group, the dog shook her head as the blue muppet continued. “Well, they all have their matching band shirts on.” A glance around confirmed this. “Do you want one?”

“I can have one? Really?” Ronnie asked hopefully, staring up at the other.

“Of course!” Marisol pulled a small white shirt out of her bag, presenting it to the pup. “Go ahead, throw it on!”

Ronnie did as she was told, staring with wide eyes down at the ‘Honorary Electric Mayhem member’ shirt, her tail wagging a mile a minute as she leaped forward and hugged Marisol tightly. “Thank you so much!”

Dr. Teeth walked over the two, putting a comfortable hand around Marisol’s shoulders. “Isn’t it sweet? It was Mari’s idea.”

“I love it!” Ronnie hurried over to her keyboard with a smirk. “Now, what are we gonna play? I know four songs so far!”

“What songs do you know?” Zoot asked and the pup started to line her paws up.

“I know ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,’ ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb,’ ‘What a Wonderful World’ and ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’!”

Curious eyes wandered over to Rowlf, who shrugged. “I don’t keep a ton of sheet music, and she picked the songs.”

“Well, how about we try the reaper tune then?” Floyd suggested, and the group all got into place and started playing with Ronnie playing the cowbell on her electronic keyboard.

As the night started to wind down, Ronnie made her way back to her booth as her uncle Rowlf took to his own piano. Within a few minutes, a familiar tune started to ring out through the room as Ronnie curled up next to her uncle on the bench in front of his instrument, with Robin climbing to the top of the piano and sitting.

“It’s in every one of us, to be wise,” Rowlf sang out in a low tune, with others quieting down whatever they were doing before the song rang out. “find your heart, open up both your eyes.”

Robin smiled down at his friend from his comfortable spot on top of the piano. “We can all know everything without ever knowing why.”

Kermit hummed at the tune as he approached the group. “It’s in everyone of us, by and by.”

The Electric Mayhem started to strum and drum along, with Dr. Teeth singing out a line himself, with the rest of the members and Marisol each adding in a line after him until they were at the second verse.

“It’s in everyone of us, I just remembered,” Fozzie joined Kermit’s side, putting an affectionate arm around him. “it’s like I’ve been sleeping for years.”

Pepe and Rizzo shared an amused expression and crowded around the piano as well. “I’m not awake as I can be, but my seeing is better, okay.” Pepe spoke the lyrics instead, causing Rizzo to roll his eyes as he took the next lines.

“I can see,” Rizzo sang out heartfully, ignoring the smirk that Pepe held, “through the tears.”

Gonzo, Gimzo and Camilla approached the group. “I’ve been realizing that I bought this ticket,” Gonzo held his hand up as if motioning to an invisible ticket as Gimzo took the next line.

“And watching only half of the show,” The tiny alien sang out, with Camilla clucking along and encouraging her, “there is scenery and lights.”

Bunsen, Beaker, and Radium huddled around in the circle of friends next, with Bunsen taking a line, Beaker and Radium meeping along with him. “And a cast of thousands, who all know what I know.”

Ronnie stared up at her uncle happily and cleared her throat to sing the next lines. “And it’s good that it’s so.”

All together the group sang out the last two choruses, with a yawn escaping Ronnie’s mouth near the end of the last ‘everyone of us’. Instead of ending the song right away, Rowlf and the band continued to play out an instrumental of the song until the children in the room started to fall asleep to the calming tune.

After the rest of the adults had cleaned up the mess of balloons and pizza and cake that had been left from the party, Rowlf slowly started to stand, pulling his niece into his arms and carrying her, trying his best to fight her stirring.

“Thanks Uncle Rowlf. Good night.” She managed to whisper out before falling back into her dreams, with her uncle humming the sweet song from before to her as a simple response.


End file.
